bsheldon

I don't why you are confused, but there are 30 games, not counting the exibition games at the beginning of the season.

NO, those are the exibition games. Yes I know the rockhurst game is essentially that, but it does count on our record.

I hope you are right.

Either you read my post in the A-10 schedule thread (page 2) or we think almost exactly the same. I think 25-5 is and should be the high reaching, yet realistic goal for the season. 22-8 will be my over/under bet with my buddies.

I couldn't agree more. The problem is that every single one of their home gomes is a very familiar opponent. We are rather new to our conference that isn't a geographical fit. Plus the big12 schools are all state schools so it is more than obvious where they are from. Most of our conference games don't have a ton of sizzle to a casual fan. Now that our conference has been getting a lot of good press that may be changing a bit in next couple of seasons, but it will still take a while for the casual fan to get to know who some of the A-10 schools are. Our OOC games really are our chance to get some marquee programs to come to town and excite a casual fan to want to come to a game, but apparently it is much harder to do than we think. The program I remember off the top of my head was AZ when they were #2 in the country several years back. Obviously, the Duke game this year is similar, although a one and done--not a one and one, and in my opinion a step in the right direction. The dedicated fans are coming no matter who we play, but what is obvious is that there are only about 4000 of us. To get The Fetz full, we need to attract 6000 more a game and hopefully convert them from casual to dedicated.

I just ran some numbers based on the end of season RPI from last year and this year's scheulde is almost 50 RPI points higher than last season's. Last year our OOC averaged 183 and this year it averages 136. So, I guess it isn't all that bad after all. If our OOC RPI average last year were 136 our RPI would probably have been 10 points higher than it was. With a win or two in the conference tourney we would definitely have been in the realistic bubble discussion. Of course this year's number could be a bit different at the end of this season based on how good the teams actually are this year. Without the Chicago St game we would have had an average of 118--It really shows how bad playing a dog like that is for you. By blowing them out you lose ground on where you want to be. I personally know that I will be the biggest TN St and Chicago St fans this year. Even just a few more wins and their RPI makes huge jumps. Way down low there is a ton of of room to make huge strides with just one or two decent wins. Chicago St won a whole 6 games last year playing absolutely no one. Heck just the fact that they play us will raise their rpi significantly. If they happen to put 8 W's up they may be a mid 200 type team. Fingers corssed for everyone on out OOC shedule to have monster years. Hopefully, Jacksonville wins the Atlantic Sun (they tied for 1st last year with Belmont our past Atl Sun opponent,) GA haves the year that many are expecting, Duke does again what duke seems to alwyas do, Misery St turns around from last season's bad year, and the dogs TN St and Chicago St win a few games here and there. With all of this said about the schedule being better than years past, the home schedule still isn't anything to get all excited about. I'll be there no matter who we play though. Go Bills.

Ace and Shoe--great posts. Until we truly do become something that we are not yet, a perrenial top 25 team, teams in that 75-125 range are exactly who we should be targeting right now. They may not be sexy match-ups or even big draws, but they are the correct range of teams for now. Maybe after a succesful season this year we can try to move that range up just a bit to the 50-100 range. Looking at those RPI numbers if we had the exact same record last year against the teams we play this year we would have been much more a part of the bubble conversation than we already were last year. Really that should be about as high as we should aim until we really make the transition to the next level. I hope that transition starts this season. I feel we are on the right track and heading in that direction. Hopefully 5 years from now we look back on last year's group as the turning point and this coming year's group as the first breakthrough season for the program. It is a great time to be a Bills fan.

Agreed. I tried to recruit a die hard Mizzou fan to the blue side last year. He was impressed with The Fetz but was boggled by who we were actually playing. The first game was Belmont and the second was Fordham. I wish I could say I didn't agree with him when he said he had never heard of either of them. These were the only games that he could make. Not really any home games that anyone outside of dedicated SLU fans would have the slightest bit of interest in going to see. At least Georgia is a state and people know where they are from. Same can be said of our home conference games--at least RI and UMASS have their location in their names so people around here have a clue as to where they are from. How many people outside of die hard SLU fans in St louis really know anything about Duquesne, La Salle or Fordham? Again the only way any of this will ever change is if they keep winning year after year. They got the ball rolling last year with a spectacular year now they have to follow that up with an even better season this year. Do that several times in a row and people will be clamoring to play us instead of the other way around and who knows maybe tickets will become impossible to get and sell outs will be the norm.

Torch--i see 2 Northeastern on the 22nd and Jacksonville on the 15th--neither stellar games to get up for though.

Edit: I just saw the Chicago St and Rockhurst games--awful, but I guess you take what you can get. I would almost rather not play games that don't count and in no way help your program if you win as they aren't counted on Selection Sunday nor RPI. The only thing that can happen is you get someone injured or you lose the game. Regardless add these two game to the "buy" games below. That is 28 games so far. 2 more decent ooc games that are winnable would be nice. Hopefully we can still get a couple of decent mid-majors that were in the upper half of their conferences last year with RPI around 100 to 150 would be nice. As it stands now 20 wins with that schedule would be real nice. Adding 2 more W's to that put us at 22 victories going into the conference tourney. I can see that even with 2 more "buy" games it still may be tough to get to 20 wins. Georgia is going to be a monster very early in the season--that will be a real, real good W to have on hand come tourney selection time. It may also be an early taste of defeat. The thing we have going for us, is it is at our house. Hopefully there is some buzz and we can fill the place early in the season. Of course the defending champs in their house. Missouri state at their place is a game we need to win, but not an easy one. BTW there needs to be a bus or two or three organized to road trip down to that game to have a rowdy bunch of blue in the crowd. I am just assuming we win the Cancun Tourney--I kind of wish we could have stayed in the Chicago tourney. Then conference starts: X twice, UD twice, @ Temple, @ Richmond, @ Charlotte and RI at home. (Why is Charlotte away and RI home again this year like last?) That is 11 very tough games. Assuming no slip ups along the way and a split with X and UD and we could still only win 19 games (before adding the 2 additional games.) Throw in one Bowling Green type game from last year and that puts us at 18--add the two "buy" games and we struggle to reach 20. Conversely, and hopefully, we have the potential to win every game. On paper we should be in every game this season with the possible exception of the our trip to Cameron. Obviously 29-1 is a bit much to ask or hope for, but 25-5 is a realistic, yet high achieving goal. My prediction: 22-8. I can't wait. Go Bills.

I don't know if I would say KC was all or nothing as a flat out statmenet of fact, but it certainly seemed that way. I think most people's problem with him was his unwillingness to take the wide open jumpers--he passed on many early in the season. He usually got 1 or 2 hustle buckets a game with a rare free throw here and there. I think that if you went back and looked at his points to minutes ratio it was the bottom for the team. Conversely, he had 2 or 3 games where he looked to get to the bucket and took some open shots where he put up double digits. So, it did kind of seem like all or nothing. I beleive it was the Duquesne game on the road last year where he drove to the bucket four or five times. The first time came at a time when we really needed a bucket. It seemed to give him confidence and he repeated it several times that game. During those rare games where he looked to score he also got the free throw line. If that is the KC we got every game instead of only once every 10, we would not be having this conversation. We know he has the skills to put up 8-10 a game, that is probably why he is talked about so much in here, but it was usually 2-4 with an occasional 12-14. While I wouldn't go as far as to say we will have 5 guys averaging 10+ a game--as there just aren't enough minutes or points available for that, but I definitely feel that we could have/should have had at least one more player that pushed that 10 points a game average. If CS could have continued to shoot the way he did the first couple of games, it would have done so much for our offense as a whole. If we had a 2 guard that could knock down the open 3--which we missed a ton, we could have had another guy around 10 points a game. I don't think it would have been much of a stretch at all for a good shooter in our offense last year. It was there most all of last year. Heck even if CS hits 35% of his 3's it would have pushed him over 7 pts a game. Again, I think it would be asking a lot to have 5 guys average 10 or more, but I don't think it will be too much to have 5 or even 6 averaging 8+. We had 6 over 6 last year and 2 more over 4. I think we will be better as a whole this coming season and hopefully put up a few more points a game--it wouldn't be that hard if just one or two more open 3's had fallen last year. Plus CE should be in shape to keep his stroke for duration--he was on fire his first several games and then noticeably tired. We averaged 63 pts/game last year. I thinking we get get into the 66-68 range this coming season. That might be low-balling a bit as our free throw shooting has to be better than last season. We may acutaly be a 70 points per game team. With RM's offensive pace that would be very impressive.

I had it in my head that they were both several inches shorter. I had it in my head that since they play the 1 they must be the size of our 1--KM. My mistake. That is good that they are that tall--hopefully they have good defensive range with long arms. If DE has those ball skills that is awesome and believe me, I hope he does. He just didn't get to use them much in High School as he played down low. Whether those ball skills are D1 quality is yet to be seen. Again, I'm optimistic that they are. I do remember watching KC bring the ball up and occasionally CS--I always wondered what the opposing coach was thinking by not pressing us in those situations. When teams did press us and KM did not have the ball in his hands it was always an adventure getting into the half court set. It was probably a move by RM to give KM a bit of a break--which was probably needed. Looking forward, I hope that either MM or JJ can take on that role. KM can always come get the ball when needed, but I was thinking it would be nice if he doesn't have to not only bring the ball up the court under pressure and then is still expected to be our leading assist guy and a major if not leading scorer. He usually gets the quickest guy to guard on the opposing team and he is no doubt going to be a large part of our offense this season. Anything to lighten his work load is a good thing--if it is still able to be done effectively.

I read everything I possibly could on DE last season. He earned many write-ups in the Illinois High School Basketball press. He is a solid player for sure. He had a few games with some stupid sick numbers--something like 24 points and 24 rebounds--I don't remember exactly, the point is he is a very good recruit for the Bills. Now, the questions were the obvious ones--how exactly does his game fit into the next level (which is not just JUCO, but D1 college of the highest possible level.) If the reports are true--that he is working on improving his mid range jumper and his foot speed, he could become a real good 3 for SLU. 6'4 with a slender build is truly a guard frame in D1. He isn't going to be able to bang with the bigs at this level. BC would shove him into the 5th row and WR would toss his shot to at least that far up into the stands--consistantly. I hope DE develops into a slasher type of 3 that we have all wanted for so long. Again, if Doc's reports have any truth to them at all and his conclusions are anywhere close to accurate--it will definitely be fun to watch. Of course a player like Tommie really stood out for us mostly because of the surrounding cast--now would he still be head and shoulders above? Let's hope DE surpasses Doc's optimistic predictions and becomes something all together different and even better still.

I don't think Kyle will be knocked completely out of any game, but I am hoping he is relagated to a bench role. I don't say that from a Kyle hating perspective at all. Kyle brings a lot to the table, as has been mentioned, he is a good ball handler, one of, if not the best decision maker and passer, a good man-to-man defender, plus he has good length which I feel is often overlooked as a real good attribute to have up high as it really closes passing lanes. The reason I hope he is relagated to the bench is that if that is the case it means someone is stepping up. I really don't think someone is going to replace him--I don't think anyone has the skill sets except perhaps CS. DE won't have the ball skills, MM & JJ are too small. What I do hope happens is either MM or JJ really step up and it allows KM to play the 2. Or CS finds his stroke and continues to improve on every other aspect of his game as we saw throughout last year and he demands the #2 spot in the lineup. If either of those things happen and we have KC coming off the bench to play the #1, 2 or 3 as needed we will be a very strong club and real hard to beat. On the big man front I hope that we are good enough all around that RM has the option to only utilize WR for 20 to 25 minutes a game in the nonconference. He probably can't play 30 minutes a night, and in my opinion shouldn't play near that much. I love to see him play and cringed when he came out last year and wondered why he sat so much, but he was worn down badly at the end of the season last year--obviously so. Our added depth should really help us to keep a fresh WR come conference and post season when the games matter the most. CR came such a long way last year. He improved noticeably every week. I'd wager he has a solid and borderline great year. His prgress last year reminds me of WR the year prior. If CR can have anywhere close as good of a year that WR in his second, we should be real good on the blocks. Of course, we have BC also--he had several games last year where he really came out of his shell and he seemed to be a whole different player--Lets hope those were the games where he was feeling well and he can do that on a regular basis. His size and style of play will be critical as we get deep into conference play. I still haven't mentioned RL--our most prized recruit in some time--at least judging by all the hubub leading up to him committing. If he is even half as good as the hype we could be really sick good in the big man department. I still have CE to talk about. He can be a 3 or 4 and if he is in shape for the duration should be putting up big numbers. DE is hopefully as good as advertised but may be more of 4 player in a 3 body, but I hope he contends for some floor time as well. It is amazing to think about but each postion has 2 or 3 palyers behind them that can come in and make a real difference, not just bide time for our 2 or 3 stars to take a breather. Again our depth and ability to put 10+ different players into games in dozens of different lineups is truly a wonderful thing and I can't wait to see how it plays out.

I'll bite. While I agree that the first 5 guys on the floor doesn't really mean that much, this discussion has brought up some interesting points about what the squad may or may not ultimately be this coming year. The biggest thing I have gotten from this discussion is the depth that RM has brought. Can you think of any season in the last 15 that we could possibly have had so many different legit combinations of starters and all of them being strong? If I learned anythng from RM last season it is one of two things: Don't leave a laptop within arm's reach during a game and that his line-ups are sure to change. He seems to love to switch things around and have dozens of different line-ups on the floor. I am not sure how he coordinates all of this as he seems to stay out on the sideline and the assistants send people in and out. Again, I am sure he mandates how that happens. I would bet that we will see many different combinations of starters--just like last season. But things will be different this year in that last year he was searching for players to step up and he looking for lineups that were productive. This year he is going to have many solid options with the differences being tweaks and match-up challenges for opponents, not just trying to find "gamers" or just doing the best with what we had. Now RM will have the freedom to mandate match-ups, control game style even more than before, and have the ability to really stretch the opponents' line-ups and coaches. As for who starts: KM and WR are the only 100% every game for sure. I would put CE as 99% with KC being 99% early in the year. CS will probably get some starts early as well. My hope is that MM (or even JJ) realy steps up and their play demands minutes. I would love to see KM at the 2 spot and not having to bring the ball up the floor 95% of the time he is in. His outside shot got better and better as the season progressed. I could go on forever with what-ifs and possible lineups. That, I think is the point. The Billikens now have many options and all of them very good. I can't wait to see how it plays out.

I found this on Yahoo sports. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/A-10-Preview-How-Xavier-basketball-rose-from-hu;_ylt=Ari_8xXemqGI_02F9OWy1UjevbYF?urn=ncaab-265545 They are previewing the A-10 this week with a new article everyday. The first is a brief outline of the history of Xavier's rise to a basketball powerhouse. It would be nice if SLU could get there. It seems we are on the right track now, but only time will tell. The interesting thing to me, and this is no secret, it all started with a committment from the top to grow the program. It has does wonders for the University as a whole as enrollment has more than doubled as the prgram became more successful. My favorite line of the article is: Daily said. "Villanova was winning. Marquette was winning. Why couldn't Xavier?" The same exact principle can apply to SLU. Fingers crossed.

I've kind of been out of touch in the last month or so. I was at a buddy's last night and he said SLU was playing Duke, I couldn't believe it. I am all for upgrading the non-conference schedule, but I had thought lets add a game or two with teams in the top 30-50 range, not play at the hardest building to win at in all of college basketball, but if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. I am excited about this match up. SLU was starting to get some press at the end of last year. Hopefully, that will continue in the preseason this season. Even if it doesn't, if we have agood showing and especially if we pull out a win, we will get some real love from the talking heads. Go Bills.

To answer the OP's original question, he may be able to make an offer, but to get it to stick is a whole other thing entirely. Did you see the list of schools interested? Pretty elite group.

Awesome to see the Bills get some love by SI. Also pretty cool to see 5 A-10 schools mentioned. Hopefully the A-10 can continue to build upon last season (and with the recruiting classes I have seen and the youth of a lot of the teams, I see no reason why it shouldn't be able to) and become a perrenial basketball power conference. Hopefully pushing a big 6 conference out of the top 6 rpi rating. Also, and more importantly, the conference continues to get multiple NCAA bids with 4 or 5 becoming the norm and not the exception, and then actually doing something with those opportunities. Temple really needs to make a deep run and hopefully a program like Xavier can finally make it through to the Final 4. The tweener clubs like Charlotte, Dayton, Richmond, and URI also hopefully can continue to schedule well and be successfull out of conference. Heck our no longer "uber" young Bills will hopefully become a true conference force in the next year and stay that way for some time to come. I am confident that they will. I just wish that the A-10 starts to get some real coverage--perhaps the WCC and the Moutain West as well instead of always being lumped in with all of the non big six. I guy can wish can't he?

Damn, I didn't want to see that, but it isn't really a surprise.

It truly is amazing the money generator that that network is. I don't think we in St Louis truly understand the fanatical levels of many of the fans of these programs. OSU, Mich, Penn St all tuly have ENORMOUS followings. I have to agree with you though, the SEC especially, could probably have just as profitable of a system.

This makes me think of the tee-ball analogy someone used the other day. I don't like the idea of "slashing" kids either, but it is the way the game is played. The kids are aware of the rules. It is all competitive. It's why we keep score during the games.

While I agree that overall it is less than one per team, how many of the 330+ D1 programs are even close to competitive on a national scale? 100-150 maybe. I think 150 is a really big number but let's use it. So that leaves almost 200 programs that have a program just to have a program or to compete in their conference only. The real question we need to be asking here is how many transfers have taken place in the top 50 teams in the last 2 years? I would bet a whole lot more than the average of less than one per team. This is the new reality that SLU basketball is facing going forward--Success and Wins change everything about the program. There are new rules and practices that occurr if you win and you desire to continue to do that. Now we haven't really gotten there quite yet, but we are the precipice and things are changing. In my opinion for the better.

47% from the field--including 47% from behind the arc--sounds pretty sweet to me. It is going to be a fun season.

Excellent post. Couldn't agree more. Majerus is great for this program. Freaks are awesome.